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Royal Rascal
The Royal Rascal was an Incom T-65 X-wing starfighter (more specifically T-65AC4) and the personal starfighter of Jedi Pilot, Rhyley Stargazer which replaced the Rogue Spear and the Rascal One. It was the first 'new ship' Rhyley had ever purchased, with all his previously owned vessels having been second-hand before they came into his ownership. It was also the first vessel of Stargazer's that was not been modified by Bai'yle Norssohn. The Corellian purchased the ship after selling two of his personal vessels in late 8 ABY. It was acquired directly from Incom Corporation at Fresia having been continually asked to acquire an Astromech assisted starfighter by his droid R2-M5 and having witnessed the increased pirate attacks in the Sega System. The Jedi however was absent from Orupia to take delivery of the vessel from Incom and it was instead signed for by Tekk Larr who was asked to name the vessel in accordance with Bureau of Ships and Services (BoSS) protocols in order to be able to claim the vessel legally. Struggling for a name, the vessel was christened by Iridonian friend Jonset as a joke, however the BoSS Representative accepted the moniker as official and the vessel designated Royal Rascal was granted to Larr. Tekk presented the ship to Rhyley when the Corellian returned some days later, and having heard of how the vessel was named, Stargazer chose to keep the humorous designation. Rhyley, Tekk and Emfive immediately set to work modifying the ship, and the Corellian Jedi flew the Royal Rascal in combat for the first time when he was accompanied by Jonset in the Goldenwing driving Corsairs from the Arcadia Sector, personally killing six pirate pilots. Characteristics X-Wings were reasonably manoeuvrable starfighters. They had two pairs of wing-like strike-foils, or S-foils, mounted at the rear of the craft on opposite sides. The foils on each side locked in place flush against each other; during combat, however, the foils were folded out to increase the spread coverage of the laser cannons mounted at the tips of the foils. This gave the craft its distinctive "X"-like appearance when viewed from the front or rear. The cannons on some earlier models could not be fired with the S-foils in locked position, perhaps as a safety feature. During hyperspace travel, the S-foils remained locked to conserve energy. In some models, its already impressive velocity was tweaked to allow short micro-bursts of speed. However, in order to utilize this feature, the weapons systems had to be switched off and the S-foils locked flush against each other. The X-wing carried four Taim & Bak KX9 laser cannons, along with dual launch tubes for proton torpedoes. Other warheads, such as concussion missiles, could be fitted as an alternative secondary weapon. However this required a considerable amount of time and effort on the part of the technical crews, and the overall versatility of the proton torpedo was ideally suited to the X-Wing's varied mission profile and was therefore the weapon of choice. During the early years of the Galactic Civil War, the Rebellion had a small supply of such weapons, due to their high price. During the Battle of Yavin, for example, most X-wings carried only one set of such warheads, including Luke Skywalker's ship. To aid in the firing of these weapons, an ANq 3.6 tracking computer was installed, giving pilots advanced tactical imagery to target, aim, and launch the torpedoes. This tracking computer had a success rate of 98.7%. The X-wing's laser cannons had various settings: • Single fire, where each cannon fired individually; • Dual fire, where two cannons in opposite positions paired up and the pairs fired alternately; • Quad fire, where all four cannons (one at each foil-tip) fired together, converging on the target; Sublight propulsion was generated by four Incom 4L4 fusial thrust engines, which gave the starfighter relatively fast pace and atmospheric speed. The X-Wing, unlike most fighters of the TIE series, was equipped with a hyperdrive. This made it capable of entering hyperspace, and allowed it to operate independent from large support ships. Fighter squadrons could strike out on their own, without the need for a carrier; this autonomy suited the Rebellion, as it served their hit-and-run tactics perfectly. The fighter had space for one pilot, assisted by a droid (such as an R2-series astromech droid unit) in an external socket, which monitored the status of the craft and could make emergency repairs. The onboard droid also managed hyperspace calculations — storing pre-calculated coordinates — operated individual systems, and could even fly the craft without the aid of a pilot. This would allow the pilot to rest during missions, or save labour as the X-Wing was routinely moved around inside hangar bays. The X-Wing's flight controls were similar to those of the T-16 skyhopper, an airspeeder also produced by Incom Corporation. This meant pilots were able to adapt with minimal training. A skilled recruit with enough hours on a T-16 could pilot an X-wing within hours of first entering the craft. Rebel technicians used this fact to train new pilots without using any of the expensive X-wings. This also allowed future X-Wing pilots to be trained undercover on Empire-controlled worlds. History of the T-65 X-Wing The X-Wing was originally designed by Incom Corporation for the Empire by Vors Voorhorian, but the entire engineering team defected to the Rebel Alliance with the prototypes hidden on Fresia. It was directly descended from the old Z-95 Headhunter, built by Incom and Subpro, with lessons learned from the ARC-170 starfighter. After four prototypes were extracted from Fresia during the Battle of Fresia, it first encountered Imperial forces in the Battle of Turkana. Many more of the ships were liberated from an Incom assembly facility prior to the Battle of Yavin. The X-Wing was continually updated throughout its design lifetime. The original T-65AC1 fielded by the Rebel Alliance was a competent strike fighter for its time, but was soon supplanted by the T-65AC2, boasting improved acceleration. The T-65AC3 had improved avionics, shields, and sensors; the T-65AC4 was primarily another engine upgrade, which made it nearly the equal of the RZ-1 A-wing interceptor. One notable design, the T-65D-A1, replaced the astromech droid with an internal computer core for hyperdrive jump calculations but was considered a failure (partially due to ease of sabotage). The TX-65 was the X-Wing trainer variant. There was also a T-65B X-Wing starfighter in the works during the Galactic Civil War, which was being developed on Dac by Rebels and Incom technicians. The traitor Ral Shawgrim nearly managed to transfer the plans to the Empire-aligned Sienar Fleet Systems, but was thwarted by Rebel operatives, and the T-65B made it into service at some point before the Battle of Mindor. Famous uses included the Battle of Yavin, where an X-wing piloted by Luke Skywalker destroyed the Empire's first Death Star, although nearly all the other X-wings that participated in the battle were destroyed. An X-wing piloted by Wedge Antilles also helped destroy the second Death Star's reactor at the Battle of Endor, in concert with Millennium Falcon, starting off a chain reaction that completely destroyed the battlestation. Foot Note This Ship is used within a RESOLUTION Plots and is so part of the RSNverse of Star Wars lore. Category:Starships